Thermal Characterization of a Silicon Wafer Utilizing a Non-Fourier Heat Transport Equation and Micro-Raman Spectroscopy

Because of the growing need for semiconductor devices in a variety of applications, there is an ongoing investigation for innovative materials and topologies. These devices feature smaller structures such as thin films. According to literature, heat conduction slows in devices with thin film structures and negatively affects the device's performance and reliability. To address the increasing thermal problems of the new generation devices, efficient thermal management techniques should be implemented by properly identifying local temperatures and temperature-dependent material properties such as thermal conductivity. Due to its non-destructive and non-contact nature, Micro-Raman spectroscopy is one of the recommended approaches among various optical thermal conductivity testing techniques. To anticipate the non-Fourier heat transport effects arising due to the physical boundaries and the localized laser heating in thin films during this optical characterization approach, the gray phonon Boltzmann transport model replicating the realistic experimental conditions is built. Meanwhile, the micro-Raman thin film thermal conductivity measurements are performed on silicon wafers with laser powers of P=50mW and 100mW at various temperatures to compare the experimental findings with the modeling results. The findings of this study discuss the effectiveness of the micro-Raman thermal conductivity measurements from the standpoint of materials' thermal and optical properties.